


Magic and Broken Chains

by Raptorclaw



Series: The Dragon Prince: Primordial Universe [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Even I don't know how this will end, F/M, Gen, Slice of Life, Spin-Off, many relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26403634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptorclaw/pseuds/Raptorclaw
Summary: A spin-off work focusing less on Callum and Rayla and the rest of the main characters and focusing more on the minor characters and the OCs of my Primordial fanfic, especially the human mage-hopefuls and the Order of the Broken Chains. As with Primordial, I'm jumping into this headfirst with no idea where it will end up, and I hope all you readers have as much fun with it as I inevitably will.
Series: The Dragon Prince: Primordial Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918918
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	1. Natalia

Natalia took a deep breath and focused. The late February sun streamed in through the kitchen window as she knelt before the cold fireplace. A line of tinder and kindling ran to the pile of wood in the center, but Natalia had neither match nor flint in her hands. What she was about to do was something that had been widely thought to be impossible until one day, when a prince had returned to his kingdom with the ability to turn his arms into wings and shoot lightning from his hands and stir up the winds from his very footsteps.

He had been at the inn where Natalia worked, and she had overheard him telling one of the men he was travelling with at the time about how he'd managed to connect to the Sky Arcanum. Furthermore, he'd named all six Arcana: Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, and Ocean. And now, Natalia would be next to attempt the impossible.

She'd come close to making the connection before. On rare occasions, she'd sometimes felt the tiniest spark of something within her, but it always evaded her grasp. Today, she hoped she would finally grasp the meaning necessary to make the connection. It was maddening sometimes how close she would get before it slipped away. But she was still making progress, and that gave her hope.

Natalia delved deep into her mind, simultaneously focusing part of her consciousness on the warmth of the sun just outside the window. The way its light and heat penetrated the cloudy sky and the late winter chill felt as comforting as always. A few minutes later, she could sense it again. A spark. Tiny, but there. She could barely feel it, and it was so delicate that the slightest touch might snuff it out. The faintest glimmer of an Arcanum flickered inside her, a glimmer that she would have to feed like a fire before she could understand.

The sun gave off light and heat, warming the earth and granting sight to everything that could see. Under its glow, all life flourished and darkness retreated. Light and heat, coupled with the banishment of darkness and...

The spark flickered. Natalia grasped frantically, searching for further pieces to the puzzle as she chased the truth.

Truth.

To shine light on the truth.

The spark flickered again, but this time began to grow stronger. Natalia siezed this idea and simply allowed herself to feel the Arcanum. The sun gave its light and warmth that all life might bask in its glow, but even as the darkness always returned each night, so too would the light return in the morning.

Natalia laid a finger on the stones of the fireplace as the spark inside her turned into a light. Natalia opened her eyes, knowing that she had finally succeeded.

Natalia vaguely heard the door open and her father say, "Natalia? Have you got the fire going yet?"

Natalia brushed her finger across the stones of the fireplace, channeling her newly acquired magic through her finger. Tiny sparks sprayed from her touch, landing in the nest of tinder and setting it alight. Before long, the kindling had caught the flame as well. Natalia sat up and looked at her dumbfounded father as the flames started to lick against the fuel.

"What...did you just do?"

Natalia smiled up at him. "I got the fire going."

* * *

A month later, she had her bag over her shoulder and was hugging her family goodbye.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Natalia's mother asked her.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a risk," Natalia told her, releasing her embrace so she could look her mother in the face. "But I've made the connection, and I want to learn how to use it, and at the moment, going to the capital is my best bet at doing that."

"Not fair that Nat gets to learn magic!" her six-year-old brother, Ethan grumbled. "I want to learn magic too!"

"Well, maybe when you get old enough, you'll be able to make your own connection," Natalia told her brother, patting him on the head. "Remember what I told you?"

"Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, Ocean!" he recited eagerly. "Someday, I'll learn magic too! And I'll be even better at it than Nat!"

Natalia laughed. "You do that," she encouraged.

Her father was the last to say goodbye. "I'd expected you would marry the boy next door and take over the inn one day," he admitted. "I didn't think you would learn magic of all things. *sigh* First the elves are our friends now, then humans can do magic, and now my daughter too? This world is changing too fast for an old man like me."

Natalia shook her head with mirth and kissed her dad on the cheek. "I'll be fine, dad," she reassured him. "If anything happens in the capital, I'll always have a home to return to. Right?"

Her father smiled lovingly at his daughter and caught her in a tight embrace. "Always."

Natalia finally escaped her father's embrace and left the inn with her family on her heels. The tavern was bare for once, but several villagers, including most of the children, were waiting by the cart of the merchant who would be escorting her to Katolis to see her off.

"Bye, Natalia! Have a good trip to the capital!"

"Take me with you!"

"Bring back an elf next time you visit!"

"No, a dragon!"

Natalia giggled at the children's wild requests. Several of them were Ethan's friends, and she suspected that he had secretly told them about her magic, which no doubt lit a fire in them about learning magic in secret themselves but also ignited their imaginations about the kinds of adventures she was going to have when she finally reached the capital.

Finally, after several more hugs with her old friends and waving everyone goodbye, she climbed into the back of the merchant's cart.

"We good?" the man asked her.

"Yeah," Natalia told him.

"Then we're off." He snapped the reins of his horses and Natalia waved goodbye to the village that raised her one last time.

* * *

"...and the other two who are with us today are the Sunfire Elf mages who just arrived at the castle for my brother Ezran's birthday, Master Aurora and her apprentice, Corin," Prince Callum finished introducing everyone. Natalia's eyes widened in surprise, and then she started to laugh under her breath, despite the shock of being in the presence of so many influential people. What were the odds that she would run into a pair of elven mages perfectly suited to training her right when she arrived in the capital?

"It must have been fate that brought us here on the same day," Natalia remarked. She bowed to the Sunfire Elves. "Greetings, Masters Aurora and Corin. I have recently connected to the Sun Arcanum. If you would have me, I would love nothing more than for you to teach me magic."

Natalia was trembling. She had no idea how her request would be received. She wasn't even entirely sure that the elves didn't want to kill her. And she was absolutely certain that she was completely unworthy of being in the presence of all the people who had gathered in the little room that the Order member had shown her to. The Captain she would have been able to talk to without worry, she'd done so before after all, and he was more down-to-earth and easy to get along with.

Everyone else, on the other hand, was terrifyingly above her station. For starters, there was Prince Callum. Even if he wasn't related to old King Harrow by blood, he was the first human ever to learn to use primal magic, and he was incredibly close to his brother, King Ezran. The Moonshadow Elf, Lady Rayla she remembered, was probably closer to her station, but the fact that she was a Moonshadow Elf who had probably been trained all her life as a warrior and evidently was very close to Prince Callum frankly made her even more terrifying.

But aside from them, there were the two whose favor she wanted the most: two Sunfire Elf mages, a master and an apprentice. The apprentice, Sir Corin, was closer to her age, being only somewhat older than her, and his dark brown hair and skin complemented his golden eyes well, and he at least didn't appear to hold any hostility towards humans. Master Aurora, on the other hand, was drop-dead gorgeous with her white-and-gold robe, staff, and headdress, sleek ebony hair, and chocolate skin, making her feel even smaller and more inadequate than she already did. She also radiated heat and power, as if her connection to the sun was so powerful that her very skin had been infused with the sun's magic.

The Sunfire mage narrowed her eyes at her. "Why should I allow a human to be trained in magic?" Prince Callum and Lady Rayla whipped their heads around to stare at her, and Captain Corvus opened his mouth to say something, but Sir Corin motioned for them not to interfere. Natalia swallowed. It seemed she was being tested.

"Well...it's a show of good favor, right?" she asked awkwardly. "Helping the human nations now will mean they'll be more likely to help you again in the future. Plus, by teaching humans primal magic, you can make sure they never have to resort to dark magic again."

"A fair answer," Master Aurora admitted. "But how can we be sure you've actually managed to make the connection and aren't lying to us?"

"I've already managed to do some things with my Arcanum without using a spell," Natalia reported. "I can create sparks from my fingers or heat a cup of cold tea with my bare hands."

"If I may, there's an easier way to tell," Prince Callum interrupted. He held up a small cube, its faces a tiny bit bigger than someone's palm and each one carved with a different symbol. He pointed one of the faces, bearing a circular symbol, and pointed it at Lady Rayla. It glowed with a dim white light. Then he pointed another side, this one bearing a symbol similar to three flames moving in a circle, and directed it at Sir Corin and Master Aurora. It glowed with a somewhat stronger orange and yellow light. Next, he directed it at Natalia, again using the flame symbol that no doubt stood for the sun. Again, the glow appeared, a bit faint compared to the Sunfire Elves', more comparable to Lady Rayla's.

Natalia let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in. Even once she knew she'd connected to the Sun Arcanum, she hadn't had the opportunity to let it actually sink in. In the back of her mind, she'd been afraid that she'd been imagining things, that once she claimed to know the Sun Arcanum, she'd be unable to learn magic after all and sent home disgraced. And yet, there was the proof, shining in Prince Callum's hand.

He looked at Master Aurora and told her, "There's no doubt, she is connected to the Sun."

"That does not necessarily mean that she has an aptitude for magic," Master Aurora stated.

"True," Lady Rayla remarked. "I wouldn't have flunked out of magical theory if that'd been the case."

"I'm used to working hard," Natalia assured them. "I've been helping my parents manage my family's inn since I was seven. It doesn't matter how hard you make me study. I promise I can handle it."

"Very well," Master Aurora relented, "But why do you want to learn magic at all? Wouldn't it be easier to simply stay at home and continue doing what you've been doing this whole time? If so, why come all the way here just to beg us to learn magic?"

Natalia was silent for a moment. She didn't want to say it was just a whim that turned into an obsession. That would get her kicked out for sure. Finally, she ventured, "I guess it would be easier. Just living in my peaceful little village, I mean. But if I just did that, I would be saying that I never wanted anything to get better. We still struggle to get through the winters and protect our crops and homes from wolves and bears and natural disasters. There used to be a dark mage in the village, when I was a little girl, and she could sometimes cast some sort of spell to protect us from bandits or give us a better harvest. But after a while, she started to just...wither away, like her use of magic just ate her away from the inside out. Finally, she disappeared and none of us ever heard of her again. And since then, no one's been able to protect us from the bad cards that the world dealt us. I don't think I can explain it any better than that."

Master Aurora considered this for a second. "What would you do if we were to refuse you?"

It was the outcome she'd been dreading most. "I don't know, really. Honestly, there's not much I can do. I used up almost all of my money just to travel here to the capital. If I can't learn magic and I can't get a job, I'll be forced to beg on the streets until I have enough money to pay for a ride back to my village."

Prince Callum sucked in his breath. Evidently, he was unaware she'd taken such a risk.

"That won't be necessary," Captain Corvus told her. "You're still one of only three humans known to have connected to a primal source. If you have nowhere to go, then you may stay at the Order headquarters until we are able to find someone who _is_ willing to teach you."

Natalia exhaled. "I thank you for your generous offer."

After a few moments, Master Aurora finally said, "I appreciate that you were willing to come right out and ask for the opportunity to train, as well as your lack of hostility towards elves. However, I will require a little time to think over my decision."

Natalia bowed to her. "Of course. Take as much time as you need."

* * *

"...we have reached a compromise," Lady Aurora was saying. "I will be going back to Lux Aurea to finish my business there, and in the meantime, my apprentice, Corin, will begin your training." Sir Corin gave her a reassuring smile. "In around a month's time, my work in Lux Aurea will be done and I will return to Katolis to continue training both of you. Understood?"

"Perfectly understood, Master Aurora," Natalia told her with a relieved sigh. "It's far more than I ever dared to hope for."

"Let us start now then, shall we?" Master Aurora suggested. Natalia looked over at her, and the Sunfire mage drew a strange, pale gold rune in the air. " _Lux._ " A single point of light appeared in the air above the Sunfire mage, shining down on the table where they'd just eaten dinner. Prince Callum had also been watching with rapt interest.

"Magic," Master Aurora explained, "exists as a spark of power within the mage. The mage uses this connection to draw on the power of their Arcanum around them. You may have noticed that you feel the strongest when the sun is high and weakest at night."

"I have," Natalia confirmed.

"Something similar is true for all primal sources. Sky magic is strongest in a storm, moon magic is strongest at the full moon, and ocean magic is strongest at high tide. When a mage casts a spell, they draw on this primal energy and channel it through their finger to etch an Ancient Draconic rune. The spell can then be triggered by chanting the Ancient Draconic phrase that corresponds with the rune, or sometimes by discharging the spell's energy through an object or medium."

"So like that time you zapped Derrick in the back?" Natalia asked, looking at Prince Callum.

"That's right," he confirmed. "I didn't need to say the trigger word because I could discharge the spell just by touching him."

Master Aurora lowered her hand and the light went out. "Good to see you're catching on. Now, I want you to copy me as I trace the spell." She moved her finger slowly, tracing the simple rune as Natalia concentrated and copied her movements, generating her own streaks of pale golden light. It was only a passable imitation, but it would serve. Next, Master Aurora instructed her, "The trigger word is _Lux_." Again, a single point of white light appeared in the air above her and faded away after a brief second.

Natalia cleared her throat. " _Lux_."

A small light, dimmer than Master Aurora's, flickered into existence above her, wavered for a couple of seconds, and went out.

"Your ability is indeed passable," Master Aurora told her, "especially for a beginner who's hardly had an Arcanum for a couple months at best."

"Speaking of which, how did you do it?" Prince Callum asked her. "I know you saw me use magic, but that can't have been all it took."

"It wasn't," she admitted. "I happened to be outside your room that night while you were talking with one of the men who came to the inn with you, and you told him about the primal sources and how you made your connection to the sky."

Prince Callum blinked in surprise. "You eavesdropped on us?"

She quickly bowed her head. "I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself! I heard him talking about how you can do magic and I just had to stop and listen!"

"No need to apologize," he assured her. "If it helped you that much, I'm glad you heard it."

Natalia could only smile helplessly. She was eating with royalty and elves and elven royalty, had just done her first spell, and was about to start training in the use of magic with a Sunfire Elf mage. If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. If it wasn't, she knew that her adventures in Castle Katolis were only beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a bit longer than I expected because I decided to lift sections from my Primordial fanfic to make it more of a completely stand-alone chapter that you don't necessarily have to read Primordial in order to understand. Still, I think it serves as a decent point where we can launch this spin-off series. Expect me to focus a lot on characters like Natalia in the future.
> 
> Also, I am aware that in Primordial, I said that Natalia hadn't told anyone about her secret, but I decided to have her family find out anyway so I could talk about their reactions. Technically, she didn't tell them, they found out on their own. Loophole!


	2. Human/Elven Relations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcos and Sabah start to connect and Corin reflects on his view of humans.

_Ten months ago_

Marcos groaned and sat back against a rock, dropping his helmet next to him. One of the soldiers who had been enchanted by Viren had given him a fairly painful wound in one leg, even if it didn't seem to be crippling or life-threatening. He looked up. A pretty Sunfire Elf was offering him her hand.

"You fought bravely," she told him. Her exotic accent was soothing to listen to.

He gratefully accepted the offered hand. "My name is Marcos," he introduced himself.

"Sabah," she gave him her own name. "Now let's get you to the healers."

* * *

Marcos and Sabah sat together on the steps of the courtyard, watching the two Sun Mage Apprentices, Corin and Natalia, practice. Marcos was the first to engage in conversation.

"I didn't think we'd get a chance to pick up where we left off," Marcos mused.

"I hoped we would," Sabah told him. "It's why I requested to be part of the Queen's entourage for this visit. I'm glad that another human mage allowed us to add some time for us to get to know each other better."

"One of the benefits of humans being able to learn magic now, huh?" Marcos remarked. "I wonder if I should try to connect to my own Arcanum."

"As far as I know, there's no harm in trying," Sabah replied.

Marcos grinned. "Are you sure? Prince Callum only connected to his Arcana after a pair of near-death experiences."

Sabah snorted with amusement. "That's because Prince Callum puts himself in danger too often. Neither Miss Ellis nor Miss Natalia had to go through anything like that to learn their Arcana."

"Yeah. Lady Rayla must have her hands full trying to keep him intact."

Both of them chuckled at this. "Speaking of Lady Rayla," Sabah ventured, "she told me before she left that you were the first to abandon the campaign against Xadia."

Marcos' smile turned into a look of grim resignation. "I was."

"I suppose I just...wondered why."

Marcos was silent for a minute while he thought about his answer. "It started a few weeks earlier. I don't know if you knew, but Lady Rayla was part of the group of assassins sent to kill King Harrow. I encountered them in the middle of the night when they arrived in the woods near the castle. Lady Rayla was sent after me so I wouldn't be able to report their discovery back to the castle. But when she finally caught up to me, she did nothing. She just...let me go. But after King Harrow's assassination, I started to wonder why. We'd been told all our lives that elves were the greatest threat humanity ever faced, but right at the moment when I was at the mercy of one, she refused to do it.

"After a while, Lord Viren had more or less taken over running the castle in the absence of the princes, and he was really pushing to declare war on Xadia. The council, especially Lady Opeli, was doing its best to limit his power, but he was still doing whatever he wanted. The last straw came when he went against the council entirely and called a summit of the Pentarchy, declaring himself the Regent of Katolis to the other human kingdoms. Opeli sent several guards to arrest him, but he fought back at first, and killed several of my friends from the same detachment as me.

"And then Lord Saleer conspired with Prince Kasef of Neolandia to remove King Ezran and put Viren on the throne, despite everything he'd done, and the first thing he does is declare that he wants to send our armies off to war against Xadia. There was no way I would ever follow that man, even if King Ezran hadn't given the order to allow those who didn't want to fight against Xadia to leave."

"And then you went to Duren," Sabah continued, "and chased after Viren's army?"

"Yeah," Marcos confirmed. "Most of us weren't sure what we were going to do when we got there, but we figured it would be worth it if we could at least try to stop Viren. Once we tracked his army to the Storm Spire, we knew what side we were on. It didn't matter how little we actually knew about what the elves were like. Viren was a monster, and he had to be stopped."

"Every Sunfire Elf agrees with you on that after what he did to Lux Aurea," Sabah remarked. "And now we have to hope that humans and elves can learn to coexist."

Marcos' smile returned and he pointed at the broken link badge he wore proudly on the front of his armor. "I wouldn't be wearing this if I didn't believe it was possible. Besides, if Prince Callum and Lady Rayla are anything to go on, humans and elves belong together."

Sabah also grinned. "Not very subtle are they?"

"Not in the slightest," Marcos confirmed. "They practically live in each others' personal space at this point. I don't know what happened on that quest to Xadia, but at the end of it, either one of them would jump off a mountain for the other."

"I do get that impression from them," Sabah agreed. "So, if you want, maybe we could continue to explore this whole human/elf relations idea?"

Marcos stood up and offered Sabah his hand. She took it and Marcos pulled her to her feet. "That would certainly be nice."

* * *

Corin watched the two of them go. After watching Prince Callum and Lady Rayla and now those two get together, he couldn't help but wonder if there was such a romance in his future.

"Corin? A little help here!"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry!"

Natalia was working on an exercise in compressing her fire magic, and she was having a bit of trouble. Almost everyone did at first, and it made sense she would too, considering she-

Corin mentally punched himself before that thought could finish. He knew that way of thinking was wrong, he'd been given so much proof to the contrary, but even so, he couldn't help but still harbor resentment towards the humans in his heart.

Even as he assisted Natalia with her training, Corin's thoughts wandered to when he'd met Prince Callum for the first time. He'd thought he'd known what humans were like his whole life: lying, evil creatures so obsessed with gaining power they could never have that they would kill entire races for it. He'd been reluctant, to say the least, when there'd been word that the dark mage's army had been defeated by human reinforcements, to consider the idea that the old way of thinking was wrong.

Then he'd met Prince Callum. A prince who hated being called one, who'd been even more ostracized than Corin ever was, and who failed at everything he tried other than art, had somehow gained a power that humans were never born with. He wasn't arrogant, he wasn't deceitful, and he certainly didn't lust for power. He was the complete opposite of everything Corin had been taught humans were.

And then Natalia had shown up. Corin had been afraid to admit it, but the main reason he'd wanted to jump-start her training while Master Aurora was finishing the purification of the Sunforge was because he wanted to reassure himself that humans weren't the same monsters they were in the stories. And Natalia...once she got over her initial shyness, Natalia was actually a genuine pleasure to be around. She was earnest, hardworking, inquisitive, and relatively pacifistic, though she also tended to be a bit sassy at times...

"Corin!" Natalia's voice shook him out of his thoughts. "If you stare at the sun for too long, you're going to go blind!"

Corin held back a rueful laugh. Case in point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly still not sure where to start with this chapter, so I decided to pass a little time with a characterization chapter. I probably won't be getting into this much until I get well into the next arc of Primordial, and that's going to bug the heck out of me for sure.
> 
> Anyway, if you have any suggestions, thoughts, or critiques, please leave them down in the comments. Can't get enough comments.


	3. Welcome to Magic Academy!

Evin was nervous.

Master Nerys had told him that his Arcanum was well suited for learning magic, but had also warned him that she was not going to coddle him in the slightest. Evin had lived through many a harsh winter in Del Bar on nothing but his skill at hunting, so he knew a thing or two about hardship, but if he was going to learn magic, he was going to have to study. That wasn't something most commoners did.

Sure, he could read, write, and do a little arithmetic. But most of his energy had gone into learning how to make, repair, and sell furniture and hunt for food in the mountains. Higher education hadn't really been necessary, so he hadn't gone through any. As such, he was completely unused to the idea of studying, especially for long periods of time. That was definitely going to be grueling.

He hoped that this would at least be tempered by a little bit of spiritual meditation or something. It certainly seemed like a good means of both dissolving stress and bringing oneself in tune with nature. Some people might find that boring, but Evin had always enjoyed just going out into the woods and listening to the sound of nature. Closing his eyes, he could feel the earth itself now, the lines in the ground spreading out in all directions like a supersensory web that allowed him to sense everything on the earth within a wide radius.

He noticed a series of tremors coming from the northeast, the direction of the town. He opened his eyes. "They're almost here," he realized out loud.

"Aye," Master Nerys confirmed to him. "I sensed the carriages approaching a while ago. You appear to be getting the hang of your Arcanum rather nicely, Evin. I look forward to seeing how your magic develops."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Pavani was not impressed so far.

The two fellow Durenese that accompanied her to Katolis were unbecoming of fellow noble children, all excited and anxious about the prospects of learning magic. What she was interested in was actually using it.

It was no secret that virtually everyone who saw her thought she was stuck-up. Her response? So what?

She only acted the way everyone expected her to act. It was easier that way. No point in wasting time explaining to people what she was really like. She just needed to get things done. So why was it taking _so long_ to explain everything?

Finally, it seemed like Prince Callum was wrapping up his explanations of Arcana and Primal Sources. "Are there any questions so far?"

"How long will it take to learn an Arcanum?" she asked, doing her best to keep her impatience out of her voice.

"Depends," Prince Callum answered. "There's a lot we don't really know about these connections, but it seems to depend on the amount of effort put into understanding the Primal Source, and how easily you understand the abstract concepts related to each one. It's also possible that it may take longer for you to learn an Arcanum if you're not very compatible with it, though we haven't been able to test that theory yet. But, if you want a more concrete answer...Natalia, how long did it take you to learn the Sun Arcanum?"

"Around three months," the dark-skinned girl answered. "It was practically all I thought about that entire time, trying to understand what the sun meant and how it connected to myself." Pavani noted her awkward speech and form. She was obviously a commoner.

Prince Callum continued, "And she only had the most basic knowledge of how to connect to an Arcanum. On the opposite end, I got my first taste of magic when I was fortunate enough to have picked up a Primal Stone for a short while. I only knew two spells back then, but magic was still as easy as breathing for me, despite how bad I was at everything else at the time. Once I lost the Primal Stone, I threw everything I had into trying to make my own connection to the Sky Arcanum, despite how I'd already been told humans couldn't do magic." Here, he shot a look at the old Moonshadow Elf who would be teaching moon magic. She merely smiled back at him, so he rolled his eyes and continued. "After around a week, I'd been able to gather a lot of the pieces in my head, and I just needed a breakthrough to bring them all together. And so, with the help of a little near-death experience, courtesy of dark magic, I was able to make that final breakthrough by putting all the pieces together in the wierdest dreams you've ever seen, and made the connection to the Sky Arcanum."

Pavani considered this as the other hopefuls posed their own questions and the prince and the elves strove to answer them. The Natalia girl had been a commoner with only the most basic understanding of the Primal Sources and how connecting to them unlocks one's ability to do magic, and she'd connected to the sun in three months? She didn't know whether to be discouraged by how long it took or surprised that she was able to do it at all.

In any case, at least Pavani would have access to resources and education that Natalia hadn't had. If learning an Arcanum was dependant on effort and understanding, she was certain she could make the connection quickly. After that, it would be a simple matter of studying until she was able to properly use her magic. She wasn't sure she would ever match Prince Callum if magic was indeed as easy for him as breathing or even that these people were telling the truth about learning one's Arcanum, but she was confident that if they were telling the truth, she would certainly become a formidable mage in her own right. Now the question was merely which Arcanum she wanted to connect to.

* * *

Bashan had come from a family of warriors.

His father had been a general who'd gone to fight in the Battle of the Storm Spire, and on the wrong side. He'd been corrupted by then-King Viren's dark magic and been wounded in the shower of arrows that signaled the attack by the Durenese forces. But the arrow wounds weren't what had hit Bashan's father hardest when the battle was over. That would be the crippling pain he felt throughout his entire body when the dark magic wore off. Bashan's father could no longer fight, so Bashan's duty was obvious to him. His job would be to take his father's place and relieve him of his burden so he could finally rest and recover. For that, Bashan needed to get stronger. And learning his own magic would be the next step on that path.

He hadn't really talked to the girl who had made the trip with him to Katolis. Her face seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. He never was very interested in noble gatherings, less so in the girls at them who gathered in little groups and gossipped behind everyone's backs. He preferred to get things done, especially if it was with his own hands. He didn't really like studying, but he would do it if it meant he would be able to do magic.

"Any further questions before we go inside and get settled in?" the old Earthblood Elf, Master Nerys asked

"When do we start learning how to fight with magic?" Bashan asked before his mind could catch up with him.

"After you lose that sort of mindset." Master Nerys' reply was sharp. "Magic is not a weapon or a means of gaining power. It is both a means of connecting to the world around you and a tool to help you through your struggles. I advise you drop that mentality immediately or you won't be able to make a connection at all." She turned to the rest of the hopefuls. "The same goes for all of you. I hope that none of you came here with ulterior motives, because if you did, they will only interfere with your ability to make a connection. If you do have any, then drop them here at the gate right now so they don't get in the way later."

Bashan froze at the old master's harsh rebuke, as did most of the other hopefuls. Bashan wasn't sure exactly how the whole "connecting to your Arcanum" thing worked, but it would be harder than he thought if the process was mostly introspection and meditation. If he couldn't have ulterior motives to learning magic, then how was he supposed to-?

Bashan mentally slapped himself. No, he couldn't start thinking that way. Things were expected of him, and all he had to do was learn magic. It was just another battle, only this time, it would be against himself. If magic was a tool and a means of connecting, then he would do his best to set up those connections.

Bashan clenched his fist. He had to do this. For himself, and for his father.

* * *

Jay could hardly believe he was here.

When he'd first signed up to be a part of the Order of the Broken Chains, it had been to get in on all the most current information from the capital so he could adapt the goods he sold at his family's shop accordingly. When he'd heard that not just the prince, but two others had also shown the ability to do magic, a hunger had awakened in his soul that he hadn't known was there before.

Jay didn't fully understand why he felt so strongly about learning magic. Perhaps it was because of the whole 'Arcanum' thing that meant he had to connect with the world in order to learn its magic. Then again, another part of the reason might have been that he wanted to do something more with his life than just make a living from selling common shop items like tools and trinkets. The only thing he knew for sure was that something in him wanted magic more than anything.

_You can't teach a person born blind to see, so what reason did anyone have to believe that a human born without magic can learn to do it?_

Master Nerys had compared having an Arcanum to being able to see, and now that Prince Callum had explained the concept to himself and the other hopefuls, he thought he understood why. Once you connected to an Arcanum, it was probably like opening your eyes to a new world that you never knew existed. Something clicked in Jay's soul as he realized he wanted to see this new world of magic.

Miss Natalia had learned her Arcanum in three months. Prince Callum had acquired his Sky Arcanum in only a week. He could hardly believe how fortunate he was to be one of the first ten people to be taught magic as part of an official institution. Speaking of which, the questions had all wrapped up, and people were starting to move towards the estate.

"We're going to be using the lord's mansion here in Sierrashire for now until we can get a proper magecraft academy built," Prince Callum was saying. "It's large enough that we can easily accommodate twice as many people as we have here, so it's the best option for now."

"Isn't it your mansion now?" Miss Natalia asked. "Since you're the Lord of Sierrashire and Verdeshire now?"

Prince Callum groaned. "Natalia, please. Don't remind me."

Jay remembered one of the merchants telling him that a few months ago. He ventured, "So...does that mean I should call you Milord?"

"Please don't," Prince Callum begged him. "Just call me Callum. The only time I will ask you to call me anything else is if you're learning sky magic from me, in which case, you may call me Master, but other than that, just Callum will do."

Jay set his jaw. Sky magic was exactly what he would be going for. "As you wish, Master!"

A giggle emanated from the girl riding a three-legged wolf who was learning moon magic. "I guess we know which Arcanum he's going for."

Joy flooded Jay's chest as he looked forward to the days to come. He of all people was going to learn magic!

* * *

Nakia shut the door and let out a breath.

Thank the gods that this place was nothing like the study of the Evenerian High Mage, which was dark and stank of old bits of magical creatures. The manor was clean and smelled fairly new, and while there was evidence that it had recently been redecorated and stripped of some ornamentation, Nakia at least appreciated a little simplicity, despite her background.

Nakia considered everything she'd seen that day as she lay back in the room she'd been given. She'd been one of two people sent all the way from Evenere to Katolis in order to see if the Katolian royals were really willing to let them learn their secrets to obtaining Primal Magic. She'd expected vague promises and strange rituals, possibly involving elven interference. After all, there was no way that it was that easy to simply _learn_ how to do magic.

And yet, when she'd arrived, she'd been told that if she wanted to learn magic, she would have to do so through her own efforts in her own mind. Apparently, magic wasn't learned through some complex ritual, but through connecting with and understanding the world around her.

_You can't teach a person born blind to see, so what reason did anyone have to believe that a human born without magic can learn to do it?_

Master Nerys' words rang in her ears. It wasn't just the reasoning for why humans couldn't learn to do magic, it was also a subtle comment that humans were thought of as inferior. Nakia had also sensed something else in it too, though: a hint of challenge. Nakia was already skeptical of everything that Prince Callum had told them of the discovery of his Primal connections, and several of the others had been too. Nakia remembered the Durenese noble girl who acted particularly snobby and that boy, Bashan, who'd similarly made the trip to Katolis from Evenere. Her aunt had never spoken very highly of his family, and upon meeting him, she could see why.

Well, fine. She wasn't just here to learn magic anyway. She'd hidden her true identity on the passage to Katolis, and now that she was here, she could investigate this "magic training program" to her heart's content. Understanding and connection was all it took? In that case, she'd do the same thing that that Natalia girl had done. With a little luck, she'd have her Arcanum before summer was over. And to further test the system, she'd choose one that none of the instructors would be able to help her with.

She'd do everything all on her own, just as she'd always wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to check out the original fanfic, Primordial.


End file.
